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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
Introduction to ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
1. History
ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark Works is one of the world’s largest
inland steelworks. The increasing demand for steel during the late
1930’s and the early years of the Second World War as well as the
limited opportunity to expand the Iscor Pretoria Works, promoted
the then state corporation to look for a suitable site for a second
steelworks.
Four main factors influenced the decision to establish the new
Works on the banks of the Vaal River – ample space, the
availability of sufficient water and electricity supplies as well
as its proximity to the then-developing heavy industrial area in
and around Vereeniging. Iscor acquired a site of 97 square
kilometres (9 700 ha) for the erection of its second steelworks
some 70 kilometres south of Johannesburg.
By 1943, a plate mill was commissioned which produced heavy
plate for ship repairs and the manufacture of armoured cars for
South Africa’s war effort.
The years 1947 to 1952 saw Vanderbijlpark Steel developing into
a fully-fledged integrated steelworks processing iron ore and other
raw materials from mines throughout Southern Africa into
hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanised and tinned sheets and coils to
meet South Africa’s high demand for quality flat steel products.
During these years, the Works production capacity was 360 000 tons
of finished products per annum.
The second extension phase was from 1964 to 1968 when large
extensions were added; older plants modernised to supply higher
quality and value-added products such as electrolytic tinplate for
the canning and beverage industries.
The period 1973 to 1977 was the largest expansion period for the
Works. Iron making facilities were extended and the steel making
processes modernised by the commissioning of basic oxygen furnaces
and electric arc furnaces. A colour coating line was established at
the South Works and a whole new works – the North Works – was
established to manufacture wide hot-rolled, cold-rolled and
galvanised products.
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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
The focus of the 1980’s was on capital expenditure aimed at
increasing productivity and quality improvements. Increased
continuous casting capacity and the addition of a continuous
annealing facility were but two of the improvements brought about.
The addition of a chrome coating line (TFS) and an electrolytic
galvanising line in the early 1990’s increased the range of value
added products considerably.
The briquetting of coal partially alleviated the poor quality of
available coking coal and the direct reduction of iron ore has made
the Works less dependent on scrap iron and steel for use in the
furnaces.
In 1989, the then South African government announced the
privatisation of Iscor into a company listed on the Johannesburg
Securities Exchange South Africa. Iscor Limited was listed on the
JSE in November of that year.
Product and plant rationalisation and the total re-engineering
of the Works continued during the 1990’s and into the 21st century.
The continued demand from local and world markets for more
competitive steel products pressurised not only Iscor but the whole
South African steel industry to contain costs, increase
productivity and become truly world competitive in order to survive
as a viable business.
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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
2. Processes 2.1 Brief description of processes Iron Making The
Iron Making Department consists of a raw material handling area,
coke making, sinter plant and two blast furnaces. Raw materials
such as iron ore, sinter coke and dolomite are charged into the
blast furnaces where it is converted to liquid iron. Vanderbijlpark
Works has two blast furnaces in operation with a combined capacity
of 280 000 tonnes tones of liquid iron monthly. Steel Making The
Steelmaking department consist of an Oxygen Steelmaking route, a
Direct Reduction Unit and an Electric Steelmaking route. The
premier steel-making facility at Vanderbijlpark Works is the Oxygen
Steelmaking which consists of 3 x 168 t Basic Oxygen Furnaces (or
BOF’s), 2 x ladle furnaces and a Ruhrsthal Heraeus or RH degasser
in line with 2 x twin strand slab casters. The plant has a capacity
of approximately 3 million tons liquid steel and produces various
grades for Automotive, Plate, Tin as well as Draw and Wall Ironing
or DWI, applications. The Direct Reduction Plant is coal based and
has 4 x rotary kilns with two which will be added later in 2008 -
capable of currently producing 700 000t of direct reduction iron,
or DRI. The main consumer of this product is the Electric Arc
Furnaces. The Electric Steelmaking route consists of 3 x 155t
Eccentric bottom tapping Electric Arc Furnaces, 2 x Ladle furnaces,
Vacuum Arc Degasser or VAD and twin strand slab caster. Current
capacity of the plant is around 1.25mil tons liquid steel and
produces mainly Plate Mill, Pipe and Galvanised applications.
Rolling Slabs are hot rolled into heavy plate in the plate mill, or
into coils in the hot strip mill. The coils are either sold as hot
rolled strip or processed further into cold rolled and coated
products, such as hot dip galvanised, electro-galvanised and
pre-painted sheet, and tinplate.
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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
Hot Strip Mill Hot rolled coils ranging between 1.5mm to 23mm in
thickness and widths of 750 to 1950mm through 4 furnaces, 2
roughing mills, 7- Stand finishing mill and 3 coilers. Slabs are
reheated to 1240 ˚C and reduced in the Roughing Mills from 240mm to
±32mm thick, which is then processed through the Finishing stands
and then coiled. Plate Mill Route Slabs are reheated in the plate
mill furnaces and rolled into plates ranging between 5mm to 100mm
in thickness and widths of up to 3500mm in different lengths. The
plates cool down on the cooling beds before it goes through the
different cutting units. Special grade plates get treated at the
Plate Treatment Plant to achieve improved steel properties and wear
resistance. Cold Rolling Hot rolled strip from the Hot Strip Mill
is received at Continuous Pickling line 3 where scale is removed
using Hydrochloric Acid. Coils are then sold in the pickled and
oiled condition or sent for further processing at the 5-Stand
Tandem Cold Mill. The material can then be processed further via
two routes. The first route is through Batch Annealing, Temper Mill
and Electro-galvanising Line where electro-galvanised material is
produced for the automotive industry. The second route is through
the Continuous Annealing Line and a Hot Dip Galvanising Line where
galvanised material is produced for dispatch or further processing
at the Paint Line. Tinning Line Cold rolled coil is firstly
annealed and then tempered to get the desired surface and
metallurgical properties for the tinning process where the base
metal is electrolytic alloy coated with tin for the food and
beverage industries. Galvanising Line Cold rolled coil is heated in
a reducing furnace and then coated with molten zinc using a hot dip
process. The thickness of the coating is determined by air force
applied on the strip. It can also be tempered and further processed
through the Colour Line.
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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
Colour Coating Line Galvanised coils are painted different
colours for different end uses such as the appliance and
construction industries. 2.2 Process flow chart
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ArcelorMittal South Africa Vanderbijlpark Works
General information about Vanderbijlaprk Vanderbijlpark is an
industrial city next to the Vaal River. The towns of
Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Sasolburg lie in a triangle on the
map and are commonly referred to as “the Vaal Triangle” - a major
industrial region of South Africa. Vanderbijlpark is located in the
district municipality of Sedibeng (which incorporates the local
municipalities of Emfuleni, Midvaal and Lesedi). Since 1999,
Vanderbijlpark has been part of the Emfuleni Local Municipality,
along with Vereeniging and Three Rivers. The black townships
Boipatong, Bophelong, Sebokeng and Sharpeville are close to the
city. Vanderbijlpark's 500 000 trees shade streets named after
scientists, engineers, composers, poets, writers and medical
practitioners. They house one of the most cosmopolitan communities
in the country. Vanderbijlpark started when Dr HJ van der Bijl, a
brilliant young scientist working in the United States at the time,
was called back to South Africa in 1920 by the then Prime Minister
Jan Smuts to advise the government on planning South Africa's
industrial development. Van der Bijl oversaw the Iron and Steel
Corporation's first plant at Pretoria, but with the increased
demand after World War II, 100 km² was bought to build a large
steel works and model town. The steel works began operating in 1947
and the town was proclaimed in 1949. The town attained municipal
status in 1952.